Abstract The invention provides an ice maker and ice receiving and dispensing drawer combination which is disposed within a freezer or the freezer compartment of a refrigerator, with the ice maker placed adjacent the rear wall thereof so that cool air moving in a duct contained in the rear wall may efficiently freeze the water within the ice maker. The receiving drawer is disposed on runners affixed to the freezer compartment inner walls for movement inwardly and outwardly, and extends from front to back a sufficient distance so that its rearward portion is disposed under the dispensing means for the ice maker unit while its forward portion is at the front of the freezer refrigerator. The ice maker drawer includes a bottom member which is slanted from rear to front so that ice deposited within the receiving drawer is urged by gravity towards the front portion of the drawer for easy access by the user. The forward portion of the receiving drawer includes a front piece arrangement which forms a front panel of a refrigerator or freezer of which it is a part. The receptacle portion for the drawer is removable from the remainder of the drawer so that it may be utilized as a separate dispensing means when situated outwardly of the refrigerator or freezer.
In a side-by-side refrigerator-freezer having laterally adjacent, vertically-extending freezer and refrigerator compartments: a door for said refrigerator compartment; an upper and a lower door for said freezer compartment, said freezer door being spaced apart at an intermediate height of said freezer compartment to provide an intermediate space therebetween; a pull-out drawer structure at said intermediate height of said freezer compartment, said drawer structure including an exteriorly finished front member in the plane of said freezer doors occupying said intermediate space when said drawer structure is in a closed position; an automatic ice cube maker mounted at the rear of said freezer compartment in a generally sideways extending orientation so that its front-to-rear projection is as small as is practically possible; an ice cube receptacle removably carried by said drawer, said receptacle having a forward end portion adjacent said front member of said drawer and extending rearwardly with the rearward end portion of said receptacle in a position to receive ice cubes dispensed by said ice cube maker; said drawer and said receptacle being carried in said freezer compartment so that the bottom of said receptacle is sufficiently inclined from front to rear that as ice cubes are built-up in said rearward portion, at least a part of them will move individually and collectively toward the forward end portion of said receptacle by gravity.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
223 words
In a side-by-side refrigerator-freezer having laterally adjacent, vertically-extending freezer and refrigerator compartments: a door for said refrigerator compartment; an upper and a lower door for said freezer compartment, said freezer door being spaced apart at an intermediate height of said freezer compartment to provide an intermediate space therebetween; a pull-out drawer structure at said intermediate height of said freezer compartment, said drawer structure including an exteriorly finished front member in the plane of said freezer doors occupying said intermediate space when said drawer structure is in a closed position; an automatic ice cube maker mounted at the rear of said freezer compartment in a generally sideways extending orientation so that its front-to-rear projection is as small as is practically possible; an ice cube receptacle removably carried by said drawer, said receptacle having a forward end portion adjacent said front member of said drawer and extending rearwardly with the rearward end portion of said receptacle in a position to receive ice cubes dispensed by said ice cube maker; said drawer and said receptacle being carried in said freezer compartment so that the bottom of said receptacle is sufficiently inclined from front to rear that as ice cubes are built-up in said rearward portion, at least a part of them will move individually and collectively toward the forward end portion of said receptacle by gravity.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
32 words
Structure according to claim 1 wherein said drawer structure further includes a substantially rigid frame for receiving said receptacle and defining means to positively locate said receptacle properly disposed within said frame.